Ah, Alaska, the Last Frontier. This was also the case on Super Tuesday 2012, when Alaska, four (or five) time zones behind the rest of the country, was by far the last state to report. Many states had tabulated their votes and gone to bed before Alaska reported its first returns.
All of America's states are unique, but Alaska stands out. Its politics and culture are shaped by a mixture of oil industry politics, libertarianism, federal dollars, hippies, and many other forms of wackiness. Even pre-Sarah Palin, Alaska was hard to categorize politically. And so it was thought by those who stood long, staying up until 2 AM, waiting on the Eastern Glow, that something would come out of Alaska that would upend the race. Would Ron Paul finally pull off a victory?
Unfortunately, Alaska, for all its uniqueness, ended up in a three-way tie, just like everywhere else on Super Tuesday. Mitt Romney got 32% of the vote, Rick Santorum got 29%, and Ron Paul got 24% of the vote. Probably the most important thing about the Alaska result is that it dashed Ron Paul's last real hope of winning a state. Otherwise, sorry for everyone who stayed up so late.